Shinobi In Paris
by RagnellAlondite
Summary: A wish was made, and the price has been paid. A desire from thousands of years in the past brings forth a hero when the world needs heroes the most, one who must learn to balance the great powers he now wields and learning to adapt to a whole new life.
1. Chapter 1

_AN* Well here it is, the first chapter for a new story. Challenge issued by Dragon Sage God, so credit for initial work goes to him for putting me onto this show. Anyway, leave your reviews at the end and let me know how I did._

 _Firsts_

A soft frown crossed his face as he watched the man who had done so much for him fake his way into finding suitable candidates. He had stayed near enough to act as a safety net, ensuring that his guardian would not come to harm but he was careful as well to remain far enough back as to not cause a problem and potentially ruin the tests he was performing. Of more then three dozen attempts only two had been suitable candidates for what he had planned and now he prepared to give them the tools they would need to succeed.

"I don't like this," he said.

"No one is asking you to," came the reply from his partner where he sat devouring a baguette "but despite your misgivings he does know what he is doing."

"I don't like watching him put himself in harms way. I could handle this easily enough,"

"You don't have the power to deal with the Akuma. He told you this. We are powerful, no doubt about it but we do not have Tikki's abilities,"

"So you both have said, and yet you claim to be the strongest of them," he smirked.

"I AM the strongest. But raw power isn't everything, you know that." his partner huffed as he finished his food.

"It's a pity we can't just track down Nooroo,"

"Agreed but it's not in the cards. Whomever has him is doing a good job of staying hidden,"

"Ugh, I hate all this skulking around. I'd rather go out there and handle this head on,"

"That's a pretty ironic statement coming from you," his partner chuckled.

"Oh shut up Ignis." he sighed as he walked off, following after the diminutive master until he had managed to secretly deliver the two Kawami's to their new partners.

"I am impressed that you restrained yourself." Master Fu chuckled as they started walking.

"You told me not to, and seeing as how I am basically mooching off of you I feel obligated to at least follow your lead on matters such as these." was his reply as his gaze shifted over the populace with practiced ease.

"You are too uptight. It might be good to relax a bit, live somewhat of a normal life if you can," Master Fu noted.

"You honestly expect me to blend in? Really?" was his response "From the stories I've told you, me and normal are about as far apart as the north and south poles,"

Master Fu chuckled at that remark before he replied "Yes, and I know that since you took that necklace you intend to live the life of a hero as well. But even heroes need to have a life away from the battle. It would not be a disservice to those that you have left behind to live and perhaps even enjoy this new life,"

"We'll see." was all he said as he reached up and touched the necklace gently running a finger over the dragon styled motif.

* * *

As the morning went on he made his way back towards the school, intent on observing the young woman that had been given one of the powerful Miraculous. She was a klutz from what he managed to observe of her but she was kindhearted and that made her a target. Stepping down from his perch he easily climbed down and walked towards the school with a smirk on his face. He would deny that he was following Master Fu's advice about living a new life, he was only going to be there to monitor the young woman, that was all.

" _Yeah... I don't even believe that, and I'm the one saying it," he thought._

Walking in he asked for directions to the principal's office and arrived in short order, rapping on the door quickly.

"Come in,"

"Hello." he said as he walked in, a small smile on his face "I'm sorry to interrupt but I just moved into the area and was hoping to register."

"Ah, of course." the principal nodded as he motioned for him to take a seat "Your parents are here as well?"

He opened his mouth to continue when the door was opened by a larger, angry looking teen with dark hair and blond banes. The principal reacted harshly, shouting at the young man to learn to knock and telling him to do it again. The young man closed the door and a few moments passed quietly while the pair waited before the principal called out for him to come in, which was when the door was smashed off of it's hinges and a rock golem walked into the room, standing over seven feet tall already with his right hand clenched into a fist. The young man was about to react when the golem kept on going, smashing through the windows, shouting a person's name as he walked further into the city.

"Well, shall we put a pin in this?" the young man asked with a raised eyebrow as he helped the principal up.

"Y-Yes." he stammered out as he brushed himself off and reached for his phone, calling the police as the young man stepped out of the room and made his way outside where he planned on tailing the newly minted super villain until the two Master Fu had chosen could intervene. He didn't intend to get involved himself unless he felt there was a need to but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to stay nearby just in case something did go wrong. New heroes couldn't be expected to do everything right on their first go, nor could their reactions to a combat situation be predicted easily. Fear for another person was one thing, but fear for their own lives could cause them to hesitate at the wrong moment.

It was relatively easy to tail Stone Heart, since he wasn't exactly being subtle about his direction or his intentions as he kept shouting the same name over and over again as he walked, though he noted that he grew larger every time he was hit by an attack, meaning that he would have to be very careful in how things were handled if the new heroes couldn't make the cut. Making his way into the stadium he kept to the upper level where he watched as one of the new heroes, Cat Noir arrived on the scene and began to battle the giant Stone Heart, causing him to grow larger and larger. Glancing up he spotted the young woman, fully transformed and ready to fight but he could tell that she was scared and wasn't sure if she could handle the battle ahead. Glancing down at the field again he saw two things that made him react quickly. First was that there was a young woman with a phone recording the whole battle. Second was that Stone Heart had thrown a goal in her general direction and it was going to hit.

"Ignis, Burn It Down!" he called out as the dragon partner let out a snarling laugh as it joined the necklace and transformed him into his hero persona. His usual street clothes disappeared in red fire as first appeared the pants and shirt, both black in color with a scarlet circle appearing just over his stomach, then the boots appeared on his feet, red as well and stretching up to mid calf, followed by the scarlet coat with twin black swirl patterns appearing at the upper arms and finally came the mask of a dragon, hiding his face from the view of the public as he leapt down in front of the young woman, his weapon in hand, a blade shaped and colored like a flame extending out just over three feet in length with six upward facing spikes that had four on the right and two on the left, it's grip was a simple gray rod and the guard was black and started at the very bottom of the hilt, spreading out in an oval like shape with two spikes near the bottom pointing down and two near the top pointing up. With practiced ease and simple movement he swung up and sent the goal flying up and into the stands.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed as he stood there, and turned his gaze up towards the girl.

"It's now or never!" he shouted to her as he walked forward, intent on helping Cat Noir who had been grabbed when he had been about to protect the young woman and instead had been distracted by his arrival.

The young woman didn't disappoint as she used her yoyo to get down to the field, and free Cat Noir as they landed haphazardly at the remaining goal. Standing up the pair talked as he moved in front of Stone Heart, keeping the giant's attention on him.

"Sorry big man. But you're going to need to give the rookies a moment." he said with a chuckle as Stone Heart swung a massive fist at him that forced him to dodge "They'll be ready to play again in just a bit."

"I'm not playing!" Stone Heart shouted in a rage as he slammed a fist onto the ground and instead of the dragon masked hero there was only a crushed ball in his place as he heard chuckling from behind him.

"You might not be, but this is the most fun I have had in quite some time." he said as he leapt back to avoid the counterattack, while Cat Noir rushed forward, apparently having used his new super power and not realizing that it was a single shot only. Just before Cat Noir could be hit he flickered into sight and back over by the destroyed goal with relative ease.

"Whoa. Thanks for the save." Cat Noir laughed.

"You wasted your power." he noted in a chiding manner "You should have listened to your partner."

"I was just a little too excited." Cat Noir admitted.

"Understandable. I trust you got the whole story from your Kawami." he said looking towards the young woman.

"Yeah." she nodded.

"Good. Then I'm done here." he said as he stepped away from them.

"Wait what?!" she shouted.

"This is your trial, not mine." he replied "I am here to act as a safety net, not as an ally. I will step in the moment I feel that it is necessary to save lives, or if I need to offer advice, but you need to learn how to handle these things on your own. Take if from someone who knows, there will not always be someone there to bail you out,"

With that he stabbed the sword into the ground and stood off to the side, making it clear that she needed to do this herself. He watched quietly as she activated her power and then seemed to put everything together into a means of stopping the enemy in front of them, sending Cat Noir into one of his giant fists while she in turn leapt up to get caught in the other, forcing Stone Heart to drop the crumpled up piece of paper that the Akuma had used to transform him. As soon as she was in his fist she called out to the young woman, Alya he noted, who turned on the hose that filled the extra suit that her powers had create and forced his hand open and allowing her to remove the Akuma. He nodded then, seeing as they had things well in hand and started off, sword balanced on his shoulder as he walked past Alya who looked at him with wide eyes.

"You are so cool. What's your name?" she asked.

"Ryu. You can call me Ryu." he answered as he walked out of sight, not noticing the mistake that the young heroine made as he left.

* * *

A few hours later he had returned to Master Fu's home where he saw the news about the massive increase in Stone Hearts and quickly brought his hand into contact with his face.

"You had no way of knowing that his would happen." Master Fu remarked.

"I should have stayed to make sure that she handled it," he sighed "I assumed that she knew what to do once the threat was no longer there,"

"It was a simple mistake. She will learn from it," Master Fu replied.

"Assuming of course that it doesn't destroy her precious little confidence," he countered "It's only a matter of time before those copies start attacking. The original is a teenager, pretty easy for them to hit a low point."

"Spoken as though you are not one," Master Fu laughed.

"Just because I look like one again doesn't mean I am one," he tried to counter.

"Or perhaps you just do not want to be one again. Was your own teenage years the first time around so bad?"

"Bad enough that I don't want to relive them," he answered.

"Ah but you are not reliving them. You are simply making a fresh start,"

"I sincerely doubt that." was all he said as he walked off towards his own room "I've got some work to do. Can't mooch off of you forever."

"I have told you that you may stay here as long as you wish,"

"And I told you that I am uncomfortable living off of the charity of others. I'll just need a bit of time to get my feet up underneath me, then I'll be out of your hair," he said.

* * *

The next day he returned to the school, walking into the still damaged Principal's Office and nodding to the man.

"I am surprised that you came back. It wasn't a great first impression of this school."

"I won't hold it against you that one of your students suddenly transformed into a giant rock monster." he laughed casually "I doubt that it is a regular occurrence,"

The principal chuckled as well at that as they started the paperwork, and once finished along with the tuition he was ready to start.

"It will take a few days to file the paperwork. You can start on Monday." he said.

"That's great. Thank you," the young man smiled as he shook the Principal's hand before heading out, noting the commotion as several different students all were talking about someone named Adrian. Watching with eyes more skilled then he would appear he spotted the young man and recognized him as Cat Noir's secret identity.

"This was a good decision after all." he nodded to himself as he made his way towards the ground floor and the exit. He made it less then two blocks when he heard the commotion behind him and saw Stone Heart at it once again. Slipping into an alleyway he stopped when he tapped on the inside pocket of his coat, rousing Ignis.

"Ugh, do you know what time it is?" Ignis asked.

"Time to work," was his reply.

"Oh. Well in that case what are we waiting for?" Ignis chuckled.

"Ignis, Burn It Down!" he called out as he once again transformed into Ryu. Leaping up onto the rooftops he spotted the path that Stone Heart was taking and saw that he had two hostages. Leaping down he saw two things, first being that Cat Noir was arriving on the scene and second was that so were the Stone Minions. Leaping down he looked at Cat Noir as the minions arrived and the original had grown in size to a massive height.

"You really don't learn from your mistakes do you?" Ryu asked as he looked at the six minions that surrounded them as the original walked off.

"I'm still kinda new to this." Cat Noir replied as he dodged a giant stone hand.

"I can tell." Ryu replied as he went low to dodge the next one and leapt backwards to give himself some breathing room "Where's Ladybug?"

"No clue!" Cat Noir exclaimed, continuing to dodge around.

"Well we need to move quickly. Think you can keep the copies distracted for a bit?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cause I can use my power to buy us some time but I need to get closer to the original." Ryu explained.

"Whoa, you're joining in this time?" Cat Noir asked with a grin.

"It was my mistake to not make sure that Ladybug handled the threat appropriately. I clean up my own messes." Ryu answered "Good luck Cat Noir."

"You too man." Cat Noir nodded as Ryu leapt off the top of one of the minions and continued leaping over the rooftops to close the distance between himself and Stone Heart. Leaping down he saw Stone Heart standing on the Eiffel Tower observation deck as the police had the area surrounded. Assessing the situation he knew that he had only one shot at stopping Stone Heart, and buying Ladybug time to come in and deal with the threat that the Akuma represented.

"I demand the safe return of my daughter!" the mayor shouted through his megaphone and Ryu muttered a curse as he stopped and flickered from sight landing on the bridge just as Ladybug arrived, catching the blond haired girl before she hit the unforgiving pavement.

"You're late." he noted as she stood up and Cat Noir joined them.

"Uh yeah. Sorry." she chuckled.

"It's a good sign. A hero knows how to make an entrance." Ryu chuckled as he heard the chief of police telling them to open fire on Stone Heart.

"No don't attack them! It will only make things worse, you know that!" Ladybug shouted.

"Unlike you I have a new plan, now move aside. You've already failed once." the man said.

Ryu decided that enough was enough as he slammed the tip of his sword into the ground, shaking the bridge and getting the officers and the two young heroes to jump in shock.

"And your plan will only cause rampant chaos and destruction." Ryu said loudly as he lifted his sword "She made a mistake, but she is new to her gifts and has already done more good as a hero then I did my first few attempts."

"Really?" She asked in shock.

"Trust me if you knew the me back then you would be shocked at the differences." Ryu chuckled as he moved in front of them "You can do this, both of you. I can buy you a few minutes but while that is going on you are going to need to work quickly."

"Right." the pair nodded. Just as Ryu was about to activate his power Stone Heart went into a coughing fit that ended with him spitting up a gigantic swarm of butterflies before falling backwards onto the observation platform. A second later and the swarm took the shape of a man's face and began to speak.

"People of Paris, listen carefully! I am Hawk Moth!"

"Hawk Moth?" the two younger heroes repeated back in shock.

"Ladybug, Cat Noir! Give me the Ladybug Earrings and the Cat Ring now! You've done enough damage to these innocent people!" Hawk Moth declared.

Ryu could chuckle as Ladybug didn't waste a second as she clapped and stepped forward, calling out the man who caused the entire problem "Nice try Hawk Moth, but we all know who the real bad guy is. Let's not reverse the roles here. Without you none of these innocent victims would turned into villains in the first place. Hawk Moth, no matter how long it takes we will find you, and you will hand us your Miraculous!" Ladybug declared as she charged forward, leaping up and unleashing the power of purification, destroying the manifestation of Hawk Moth "Let me make this promise to you!" Ladybug declared as she turned and faced the people down below "No matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug, Cat Noir and Ryu will do everything in our power to keep you safe!"

"Wow, whomever she is beneath that mask I love that girl," Cat Noir said as the people behind them cheered.

"Wipe the drool off your chin, you'll make a bad impression," Ryu remarked as he cracked his neck "And the job ain't done yet. Time to handle Stone Heart."

"Yeah." Cat Noir said as the pair leapt up to join Ladybug as Stone Heart stood up once more.

"You'll never take Mylene from me!" Stone Heart shouted as he started to climb up the Eiffel Tower "Come to me my stone beings!" With that order the copies began climbing as Ryu glanced over the side and blinked.

"Well we might have a problem," he remarked "I'm counting a half dozen on this side alone, and since fighting them will only make things worse I suggest that you come up with a clever plan."

"Well we know where the Akuma is." Ladybug noted.

"In his clenched fist, the one he's holding Mylene in. So..." he trailed off.

"So we know he's in love with her... That's it! We don't separate Stone Heart and Mylene, we bring them closer together! They're made for one another, they just don't know it yet." she gushed, as Ryu tilted his head to the side to show his utter confusion.

"Uh... I'm not really following you, but guess I better trust you. Something tells me this is how it's going to be from here on out," Cat Noir noted.

"A wise man knows when to follow a woman's lead." Ryu nodded sagely as the pair took off after Stone Heart "I'll give you all the time you need."

"Thanks Ryu! Ladybug called back to him.

"I think it's time for some order!" Ryu shouted as he spun his sword around and slammed the tip into the ground "LAW! None of the duplicate Stone Hearts will be able to move!"

With a wave of scarlet fire each copy of Stone Heart suddenly found themselves stuck in place as Ryu moved to follow after the pair, knowing that the countdown on his transformation had already started. Standing on the side below the climbing stone behemoth he watched as the two rookies reached the top and Ladybug implemented her plan, using her own super power Lucky Charm. From his angle he wasn't able to see what she had received from the power but knew that it would be useful. Tilting his head he watched as she used her yoyo to wrap around Stone Heart's body and fist, drawing it in and then making Mylene kiss the giant, causing him to release her in shock as well as the Akuma. Nodding he watched as Cat Noir leapt off after the Akuma using his staff to knock it back up to Ladybug where she would use her powers to destroy it, though Ryu was ready to move to save the two civilians as he wasn't sure if her plan was all the way thought out.

His concerns were only half correct as while she hadn't planned it all out, her Lucky Charm had, giving her the parachute to save Mylene while Cat Noir used his power to help him save the returned to normal Ivan. With a grin he decided to show off one more trick as held up his hands, letting two fingers on each hand create the shape of a plus.

"Dragon Shadow Smoke!" he called out as copies of him appeared around him, each moving to one of the transformed civilians as they returned back to normal, grabbing them and taking them safely back to the ground.

Standing off to the side Ryu could only smile under the mask as he watched Ladybug play matchmaker once the chaos had died down, memories flickering past him in a wave that brought to many conflicting emotions. Before he could even attempt to make heads or tails of it all he heard the alarm going off, warning him that he was going to be changing back to his normal self soon. With a nod to the two young heroes he ran off, flickering from sight like a mirage as he managed to get a half dozen blocks away before he was back to normal, a sigh escaping his lips as he felt the super human strength leave his limbs.

"I'm hungry." Ignis complained.

"I know. Let's get lunch." he agreed as he walked off to find somewhere to get some food.

* * *

"I received an interesting phone call today." Master Fu remarked that evening as they sat down to dinner.

"Oh, new client?" he asked.

"That you are attending College Francoise Dupont," the old man said with a grin.

"It's not like that," he sighed.

"Is it not though?"

"It's just to keep an eye on those two. Today was a close call that could have ended badly,"

"Perhaps. But they did handle themselves well, and learned from their mistakes." Master Fu countered.

"It's pointless to try and argue with you." he sighed.

"That is because you know that Master Fu is correct." Wayzz, Master Fu's Kawami replied with a grin.

"He's just being stubborn." Ignis snorted "It's what makes him such a good hero."

"Ignis don't talk about me like I'm not even here."

"So when do you start?" Master Fu asked.

"Monday."

"I see. Well we will go and get all of your school supplies tomorrow then. Do try and make some friends your own age."

He was quite a moment before he spoke "Which one?"

* * *

The days passed quickly enough when he walked into the school, backpack hanging from his shoulder as he walked into Ms. Bustier's class.

"Alright class, we have a student starting a little late this year. So give a warm welcome to Naruto Uzumaki." she said.

Smiling lightly Naruto ran a hand through his blond hair and nodded the the class.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN* Wow, thank you all of you for being so patient with this, and for all of the positive reviews. I know this took much longer then it should have and here is hoping that the chapter is worth it._

Rising

Naruto felt a small bit of amusement rise up as the class looked at him. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans, a white shirt with an orange swirl in the center and a pair of simple running shoes, all of it second hand and he knew that the snobbier members of the class had already noted that and written him off as a loser. Once that would have irritated him that they were judging him so quickly but now he was content to let them make their assumptions and fade into the background, making his life easier.

"Why don't you go sit in the back next to Juleka." Ms. Bustier said, pointing to the girl with black hair and a blue bang covering her left eye. Nodding the blond went to the seat and had a notebook out to start taking notes as class resumed. The day progressed quickly enough for Naruto and once they were dismissed for lunch Naruto was out of the school gates and walking down the street towards one of the few places that had what he craved.

"I'm hungry." Ignis complained from the inside of his backpack.

"We'll grab you some food soon."

"There better be meat. Or cake." Ignis snorted.

"I will never understand your obsession with cake." Naruto noted as he turned down another street.

"It's because cake is a heavenly delight that has so many different variations and flavors. And besides you don't have much room to talk given your own obsession with ramen." Ignis snorted.

"Hey, I don't constantly eat ramen. Just once a day." Naruto huffed "Besides we have a little extra money heading our way."

"That job you've been working on." Ignis noted "You finally cracked it then?"

"Yeah. I'll show you tonight." Naruto promised.

* * *

The last class of the day for Naruto was gym, with the blond standing across from Adrian as they prepared to fence. Gripping the sabre in his right hand Naruto took the ready stance and already knew that his lack of experience was going to make this an uphill battle.

"Begin!" Mr. D'Argencourt said, starting the first bout.

Adrian moved with a sheer grace that Naruto was impressed with considering that he was still so young and had lived such a quiet life so far. As Adrian made his move Naruto's sabre whipped up and knocked his blade to the side getting the young prodigy to twitch slightly in surprise as Naruto went on the offensive. Adrian's reflexes were fast and he managed to get a defense up before Naruto could even manage to score the point and had the blond holding his ground as their sabre met again and again. In the end it was Adrian who managed to score the point and once they reset Adrian moved much more cautiously against Naruto. The next round ended in another point for Adrian with the third round ending in Naruto's favor after he managed to slip past Adrian's guard. In the end though it was Adrian who managed to get the win as he landed the fourth point onto Naruto's chest.

"Wow." Adrian let out a sigh as he took off his faceguard "You've never fenced before?"

"Never." Naruto chuckled as he shook Adrian's hand.

"You were something else." Adrian smiled "I thought you almost had me there a few times."

"Luck. Plus plenty of fights before moving here." Naruto chuckled as they moved off to the side so the next group could start.

"So where'd you live before moving here then?" Adrian asked as Nino joined them.

"Japan. My godfather and I moved around a lot because of his work, so we were never in one place for too long." Naruto explained.

"Godfather? What about your mom and dad?" Nino asked with a concerned look.

"They're... gone." Naruto said after thinking of the best way of putting it "Mom died in labor, and Dad in an accident. Never even knew them."

"Man..." Nino whistled in shock.

"It must have been hard." Adrian nodded.

"There were moments. But Jiraiya was a good man."

That earned a look shared between the two who looked at the whiskered blond before Nino spoke up.

"Was? You don't mean..."

"Yeah..." Naruto sighed.

"Oh man." said Adrian who looked shocked that so much bad could happen to someone "I thought that you two just moved here."

"No. I'm living with a distant relative of my Mom's. The only blood family that I have left. It was either move in with him or wind up in the foster care system, and I had no intention of letting that happen." Naruto explained.

"So how long have you been in Paris then?" Nino asked.

"A few weeks. My uncle wanted me to wait a bit before starting up school again, take a year to get my bearings but I wasn't interested in sitting around. Besides this is way better then just sitting around the apartment."

"I bet." Adrian smiled "So what do you do for fun then?"

Naruto smiled a bit as the three of them talked about various interests and hobbies, with Naruto learning a great deal about Nino and getting a much better understanding of Adrian.

* * *

That night Naruto crouched on the rooftop as he made sure that he had a perfect view of the hotel room and made sure that the camera was positioned properly. Clicking the button Naruto began taking photos as quickly as he could, making sure that he captured the faces in the middle of the act before stepping away from the ledge.

"This feels so sleazy." Naruto grumbled as he made his way down the fire escape.

"That's because it is." Ignis replied "You know you can stay with Master Fu."

"No I can't." Naruto replied as he walked "Now that I'm going to College Dupoint, I need to separate my civilian life and my hero life. Staying with Master Fu might cause bleed over and could compromise my identity or it could compromise Cat Noir or Ladybug's identities."

Ignis growled at this remark but didn't argue as they returned to the street where he was quickly back in Naruto's bag as the blond hopped on the bus and made his way out of the heart of the city and back towards the office.

"Ok, I'm impressed." Gerald remarked as he looked at the photos on the camera "How did you crack it?"

"Money first." Naruto said with a smirk "Then I'll explain."

Gerald let out a short laugh as he opened his desk drawer and took out an envelope with money in it. Opening it Naruto counted out the 3000 Euros before nodding.

"It was in the the bank statement. He hit the same ATM every Monday at the same exact time. If he had his bank card he wouldn't need to use the ATM to make such a decently sized withdrawal unless he was trying to make sure that he couldn't be tracked through his spending. So I staked it out and tailed him, and hence the photos."

"Not bad at all kid." Gerald chuckled "You weren't seen?"

"I made it look like I was reading a book while walking so he wouldn't be suspicious, plus I made sure to keep a decent number of people between us at any given time." Naruto explained.

"Well that's all I needed." Gerald nodded as he took the SD card out of the camera and loaded it onto the computer "Consider yourself hired."

"Under the table as agreed?" Naruto asked.

"Yep. I know that you aren't legally old enough to work for me yet. So we'll keep it quiet for now." Gerald agreed "You get paid per job. And the one nice thing about working for these rich paranoid housewives is that they pay extremely well, especially if you manage to find the dirt that they are looking for."

"Good to know." Naruto nodded as he started for the door "If you'll excuse me then I'm going to call it a night while I still can."

"You got it kid. I'll text ya if I have another job you might be interested in." Gerald said as Naruto walked out of the private investigator's office.

* * *

The next day Master Fu made the arrangements for the two bedroom apartment that Naruto would be renting and a few days later Naruto had the keys in his hands as he moved his few possessions into the apartment and sighed as he set down his backpack in the living room while setting down the smaller box containing his clothes into the smaller bedroom as he walked into the larger bedroom and began rearranging the furniture so that the floor space was maximized. Nodding he grabbed the larger box and set it down as Ignis sat on top of the dresser and watched as Naruto assembled the corkboard and stuck a picture of Ivan onto it along with the photo of Stone Heart. Below it he added his own notes about the encounter and what he had gleamed from Hawk Moth's attempt to get the Ladybug Earrings and the Cat Ring.

"So you're going to do this for each one?" Ignis asked with a note of confusion.

"Information like this could be the key to unraveling who Hawk Moth is and finding Nooroo." Naruto replied "The more we know about who he targets the more we can learn about the man himself. Does he target those that are just at their emotionally weakest or does he have a certain preference? Is he active at certain times of day more often then others or is it the same throughout the day? Things like that."

"But they aren't going to remember much about what they did while transformed." Ignis noted.

"Maybe not but they are going to know what led to that moment that they were transformed. Plus what they do when they are super villains will likely be telling as well. It's not like I am expecting to solve this in the next couple of days. This is going to take a great deal of time and we are going to have to be smart about how we approach this. If we move to hastily we could ruin everything and then Hawk Moth just disappears for a time before popping back up when our guard is down."

Ignis only let out a hum as Naruto walked out of the room and locked the door behind him before getting to work on unpacking his few meager belongings. Once finished Naruto sighed as he heard Ignis making an irritated growling noise.

"Ok, we can go get some cake." Naruto sighed.

"Good." the dragon kawami stated as he flew into Naruto's pocket.

Walking down the streets he let his nose lead him towards a familiar bakery and just let a small smirk touch the corner of his mouth as he walked in, the smell of freshly baked bread wafting over him.

"Good afternoon!" Tom Dupain called out from behind the counter "Let me know if there's anything that I can get for you."

Naruto paused as he took a deep breath and smiled "Well whatever it is that you just pulled out of the oven, I'll take one of those."

"You have good taste." Tom smiled as he pulled one of the baguettes off to the side "I trust it wasn't just the fresh bread that drew you in though."

"It's like you read my mind." Naruto nodded as he looked over the case "One of those small cakes with the chocolate frosting. And three of those strawberry pastries please."

"Coming right up." Tom nodded as he started bagging them up "You're new to Paris?"

"What gave it away?" Naruto asked with a blink.

"Slight accent." Tom answered "So are you visiting or staying?"

"Staying." Naruto replied as the door opened behind him.

"Naruto?" Marinette blinked in shock.

"Oh, Marinette." Naruto smiled as he nodded to the young woman "Nice to see you."

"You two know each other then?" Tom asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, he's in Ms. Bustier's class too." Marinette nodded.

"Started late." Naruto chuckled "Uncle didn't want me to rush things."

"Well any friend of Marinette's is more then welcome here." Tom nodded as he set the boxes with the cake and cupcakes down next to the baguette.

"More acquaintances for now." Naruto admitted "I haven't had a lot of time to start making friends yet."

"Really? You seem to be getting close with Adrian and Nino." Marinette noted.

"I guess." Naruto shrugged as he took out his wallet "Sorry to cut this short, I need to finish unpacking at home. We just finished moving."

"Of course." Tom smiled as he took the money and quickly handed Naruto back his change "Feel free to stop by any time."

"Thank you Mr. Dupain." Naruto smiled as he nodded to Marinette "See you tomorrow."

* * *

Sitting down at the table Naruto set Ignis's cake on a plate and the small kawami began tearing into it with delight as Naruto set the three pastries down onto smaller plates in front of the other chairs. The familiar tightness in his throat returned as it always did and he stared down at the table as he worked on the breathing exercises that he had learned to calm his emotions, and once he was certain that the worst of it was past he looked up to see Ignis floating in front of him, a familiar look of concern on his face.

"It will get easier in time."

"I'm not sure I want it to." Naruto answered quietly.

"I understand. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I don't blame you, or her."

"It's why we are where we are I guess. That mentality of yours." Ignis sighed "Have you considered taking up drawing like I suggested?"

"You've seen my handwriting, I doubt my drawing skills are much better." Naruto chuckled.

"Maybe not but practice makes perfect. And it would help to have the visual reminders of your past." the kawami argued "What's the worst that happens, you fail? Then you move on to something else that you are good at. You'll figure something out."

"You're persistent." Naruto remarked as he stood up "Thanks. Feel free to eat those before they go bad."

"Like I would let you waste good pastries like that." Ignis snorted.

* * *

The next few days passed quietly by with no move from Hawk Moth, that was until Adrian's birthday.

The start gave no warning to what was to come as Naruto attended class and then as lunch break was called he was sitting with Adrian and Nino on the front steps where Adrian informed them that his father had said no to a party.

"Too bad." Naruto remarked as he flicked a toothpick into one of the bubbles that Nino had blown.

"That's not fair man." Nino complained "Maybe we can change his mind?"

"Couldn't hurt." Naruto agreed "Nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"Yeah I guess." Adrian replied quietly. Before much more could be said Marinette was pushed from behind the banister and Naruto caught a glimpse of Alya's hand and a smirk played across his face as he watched her stutter out a quick greeting and attempting to say something that she was unable to get across before Chloe walked up, shoving Marinette out of the way to tell Adrian that she had bought him a gift but it was late due to her workers.

"Uh huh." Naruto snorted as she walked away getting Nino to give him a look with a raised eyebrow "She's lying."

"How can you tell?" Adrian asked with a look of surprise.

"It's a little skill I picked up over the years." Naruto grinned as he stood up and checked the time "Didn't you say you had a photoshoot today?"

"Oh yeah. I better get going." Adrian said as he walked off.

"Yeah, I'll go and try and talk to Mr. Agaste." Nino nodded as he walked off as well, leaving Naruto standing there with Marinette and Alya.

"Nice try. Almost had it." Naruto chuckled as he started to leave.

"Had what?" Marinette blinked.

"The nerve to tell him you had a gift for him." Naruto called back over his shoulder "Keep trying Marintette, you can do it."

Marinette blinked in shock at this and looked at Alya who seemed just as surprised.

"How did he know?" Marintette asked in surprise.

"I guess he was able to understand what you were trying to say." Alya replied "Come on, let's try and drop this off at his house instead."

Naruto's lunch was eaten with Ignis back at his apartment where he set down his mail that included his own gift for Adrian still in it's small envelope. It wasn't anything fancy but with the time he had spent with the young man he knew that fancy didn't count much in Adrian's opinions, what mattered was the heart behind it and in Naruto's opinion this gift fit that category. Washing his plate Naruto moved to the window where he saw purple bubbles falling down and then turning green as they pulled the adults up into the sky.

"Ignis." Naruto said as he turned towards the door.

"I see them. Getting involved right out of the gate?"

"We'll wait and see. This is number two and I would like to gather as much data as I can about this new villain." Naruto grinned as he was out of the apartment and into the alleyway next to his apartment "Ignis, Burn It Down!"

In a flash he was Ryu again and let a small laugh escape as he leapt up the sides of the buildings and enjoyed the rush of power again after not having it for so long. Leaping from roof to roof he made his way through the city to the Agaste mansion where he spotted Adrian in a surprise party that was being managed by the new villain, The Bubbler. Glancing around Ryu kept to the rooftop and observed first, noting that the villain was likely Nino as he was the only other classmate that was missing other then himself and Marinette who he spotted having already transformed herself and making her way to the party. Ryu observed for a moment and then felt a spike of irritation when he saw her use her lucky charm and send a vinyl record flying to stop a slow dance that was going on between Adrian and Chloe.

"Oh for the love of..." Ryu grumbled as he watched the scene. Grumbling some more he made a familiar handsign and created a copy of himself that he had transform into a random teen he had seen in the city one day that made it's way towards Marinette.

* * *

The clone moved through the other kids, acting like he was having a good time as he slipped over by Marinette and leaning against the table next to her as she grabbed a few cookies.

"You wasted your power." he whispered getting the girl to let out an eep of shock "The boss is watching, he made me to tell you to stop screwing around and do the job right. We don't know how long the adults are gonna live up there in the atmosphere."

"Sorry." Marinette muttered as the clone stepped away from the table.

"Don't be sorry, be better." he said as he slipped into the crowd as Alya approached Marinette.

The clone made his way through the crowd again, keeping up the ruse as he stopped near Adrian and managed to grab his arm with a laugh.

"Come on birthday boy, need to chew your ear a moment." the clone laughed as Adrian blinked in confusion at the unknown boy grabbing him.

"Uh sure..." he muttered as he looked a back at the party being run by The Bubbler. Stepping a few steps away the clone draped an arm over Adrian's shoulders and leaned in to speak.

"Get it together Noir." he whispered "We need you to get your head in the game."

"Huh?" Adrian blinked "Ryu?"

"A copy." he replied "Boss is waiting on you two. Make your move quickly, or he will intervene, and take back the Miraculous."

"What, why?" Adrian asked in shock.

"If you can't resist temptation then you are no good against Hawk Moth." was all the clone said "I get that this is what you want but is this worth the price that the adults are paying? Think about that. You're a hero now, it's always going to be bigger then you on a personal level, and if you don't think you can handle it then you need to decide now. Next villain might not be as playful as this one is."

"Ok... I understand."

The clone looked him the eyes and nodded "Good. We got faith in ya Noir, but we need you to prove that this faith isn't misplaced."

With that the clone walked away into the crowd and disappeared in a small puff of smoke as Ryu received the memories of the clone. Nodding he moved a bit to keep the Bubbler in his sights as Ladybug joined the fray properly this time, soon followed by Cait Noir.

"Much better." Ryu nodded as he watched them battle. It was still very rough but as this was their second super villain he could see their skill growing and improving from the battles. He was thinking about stepping away and leaving them to it when he saw them get captured by a giant bubble. Shaking his head as he saw them being sent to join the adults in the air he decided that it was time to join the party properly as well.

* * *

As The Bubbler seemed to be getting chided by Hawk Moth over sending Ladybug and Cait Noir up into the sky Ryu appeared in front of the brightly colored villain, grabbing his face and throwing the villain out of the Agaste mansion and into the air where he appeared above him in a flicker of movement.

"Playtime is over Soapy." Ryu said as he struck with his blade this time, sending Bubbler flying to the base of the Eiffel Tower.

"You! You're just as bad as the adults! Trying to ruin our fun!" Bubbler shouted as he sent bubbles flying toward Ryu who only struck down the bubbles as they drew near, popping them with ease much to Bubbler's shock.

"I am the manifestation of Law. And a naughty boy like you needs to be disciplined." Ryu replied as he spun the blade in a simple pattern.

"As if! Why don't you go and join the others!" Bubbler shouted as the bubbles changed from red to green and began swarming around Ryu. Just as they were forming around him all he heard was a poof as the bubble was filled with smoke "What? What're you trying to do?"

"Wood Dragon Mirage." Ryu said from behind Bubbler getting the villain to jump in shock as he saw a log was sitting inside of his bubble "And now for my next trick Dragon Shadow Smoke!" In a cloud of smoke six more Ryu's appeared, each with their swords ready getting the Bubbler to look shocked before getting angry.

"So you think you're hot stuff? Well dude let's see how hot you are up in the sky!" Swinging his bubble wand around he created a massive swarm of bubbles that rushed towards Ryu and his clones.

"Allow me to show you then." Ryu said as the clones rushed forward, slashing the bubbles and distracting the villain as Ryu flickered from sight again appearing right in fron of Bubbler with a blue sphere in his hand "Dragon's Roar!" Smashing the sphere forward he let the blast lift and send the villain flying backwards with a scream of pain as he bounced backwards across the length of the open ground, just as Ladybug and Cait Noir landed on the ground, having escaped their own bubble.

"Ryu!" Ladybug exclaimed, seeing the hero standing there and the clones disappearing.

"Good to see you both as well." Ryu nodded "I trust you can finish him off. I'll see to the adults."

"Can you get them down safely?" Cait Noir asked with a frown.

"I am the embodiment of Law. Much like you can create Ladybug, and you destroy Cait Noir, any Law I place becomes reality for as long as my powers remain." Ryu chuckled "Now go. Free the boy from Hawk Moth's control. We will talk again soon." With a nod the two rushed over to the slowly rising Bubbler as Ryu spun his sword above his head "I think it's time for a little order! LAW! All bubbles made by the Bubbler will float down to the ground!"

A wave of scarlet fire washed over the area and Ryu looked up as bubbles began floating down to the ground, safely bringing the adults back to the ground as well as ruining any potential counterattacks that the Bubbler could try as the two heroes handled the enemy, soon breaking his bubble wand and purifying the akuma within it.

* * *

The next day Naruto returned to the school early as he waited for Adrian, having spoken with Nino the night before and finding out that Mr. Agaste had not only said no, but had banned Nino from the property when he had tried to convince him to let Adrian have a birthday party, thus marking out why he had changed and why he had targeted adults the way he had as Bubbler. As Adrian arrived wearing a new blue scarf Naruto listened as he heard Alya asking about it and him saying that it was from his father. Glancing over at Marinette he saw that she wasn't upset about not getting credit for the gift and was more happy that he enjoyed the present itself. Nodding his head he moved over next to the doors as Adrian walked up.

"Yo, got you something." Naruto grinned as he passed him the envelope "I know it's not likely going to be the best gift you're going to get, but I hope you like it."

Adrian opened the envelope and pulled out three tickets for the next Paris Saint Germaine game. The tickets were up in the nose bleeds but they had been all that Naruto could afford.

"I got one for you, me and Nino." Naruto explained "I mean, I know your dad said"

"Just because he said that doesn't mean I'm going to stop hanging out with him." Adrian said firmly with a grin "This will be the first time I'm this high up in the stands."

"This will be my first game in Paris." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Sounds like fun." Adrian laughed as they walked into the building "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

Two nights after the events of the Bubbler Ryu slipped into Marinette's room, arriving just after she had finished dinner.

"We need to talk." Ryu said, getting Marinette to jump in surprise as she saw him sitting in her windowsill.

"How do you keep doing that?" she asked, trying to slow her heartbeat.

"I'm good at this sort of thing. Tikki." Ryu nodded to the Kawamii.

"Ryu."

"What do you want to talk about?" Marinette asked with a worried frown.

"To discuss what happened with the Bubbler." Ryu began "I need to get your thoughts on the matter."

"My thoughts?" Marinette blinked "You aren't going to tell me everything that I did wrong?"

"You are already aware of your mistakes and I trust that you will fix them." Ryu chuckled "No. What I am working on is methodology. To see if Hawk Moth is following a pattern."

"A pattern? What kind of pattern?" she asked with a frown.

"Men like him, while smart and cunning, often fall into patterns. Tend to rely upon the same bag of tricks. I want to start compiling everything that I can about these incidents and seeing what we can learn about our enemy." Ryu explained.

"So you can find him?"

"And stop him. As long as he possesses a Miraculous then he is a threat. I intend to find him and take it back from him. To do that though we need to learn about him, even if it's only through what we can learn about his minions and how he chooses them."

Marinette nodded as she sat down at her desk and rambled off what little she had seen and heard the Bubbler talk about, going so far as to include background information on Nino.

"This doesn't feel like it's going to tell us much." Marinette sighed.

"That's because this is only the second case. We will learn more the more often Hawk Moth makes a move. Especially if he starts going after the same targets again and again. No one is ever as smart as they think they are, and I intend to exploit that." Ryu explained "We will do this again after the next one."

"Ok. Just you and me?"

"No. I've already spoken with Cait Noir." Ryu replied as he stood up "Ladybug, this is a heavy burden that you are going to carry, and it might not leave your shoulders for a very long time. If it ever starts to become too much don't be afraid to speak with me, I can help ease the burden a little if you wish."

"I thought you weren't going to be helping us?"

"I need you two to become confident, to know your limits and your own strengths. I need the two of you to become heroes in truth, not just in title. Once you have done that, once you can stand beside me confidently, and not just hide in my shadow, then we will fight side by side. Until then I do not intend to take part unless I feel the need to. I won't always be there Ladybug, and I need the two of you to understand that." Ryu said as he stopped to look up at the night sky "I need the two of you to be ready, because if things progress with Hawk Moth the way that I think that they will, then things will get a lot worse and a lot more dangerous before things get better."

With that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the confused and worried young woman sitting there, unaware that at the Agaste Mansion a Clone was just finishing a very similar conversation with Adrian.


End file.
